Scott joined Trinity Mirror in 1999 and has been deputy editor of the Sunday Mirror for eight years.

He said: "I am thrilled to have been given this new challenge. The People is a great Sunday newspaper with a long and proud history and I very much look forward to working with the team during this exciting time for the group."

Mark Hollinshead, managing director, Trinity Mirror Nationals, added: "I'm delighted to announce James' appointment. He is a highly-talented and experienced journalist who will bring his natural journalistic flair and drive to the role.

"The People continues to deliver a resilient circulation performance against cut-price competitors and I'm confident that James is the right man to take the title forward."

Scott started his career at South West News Service in Bristol before moving to the Sun. He joined the Daily Mirror in 1999, working as a showbiz reporter, and broke the 2002 story of then England manager Sven Goran Eriksson's affair with Ulrika Jonsson.

He moved to the People as deputy news editor and was made deputy editor of the Sunday Mirror in 2004.

Wallace, at the time showbiz editor of the Daily Mirror, said that he briefed then editor Piers Morgan on the information once he had heard about it, saying at that stage, it was just a "tip" – the provenance of which he could not recall: "I don't recall the exact nature of it, it was from within the showbusiness department."

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